Biden should allow Storm Shadow strikes deep into Russia: US agency names reason
Date: 2024-10-02 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WAR
Ukraine should be allowed to strike any legitimate military targets inside Russia, and the US should encourage allies such as France and Germany to "adhere to the same common-sense principles."
This is stated in a report by the Helsinki Commission, an independent government agency. As noted by The Telegraph, US President Joe Biden is under pressure from this influential agency to allow Ukraine to use British-made Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia.
"The decision on how Ukraine conducts its military operations is for Ukraine to make. The Ukrainian command understands that it depends on Western weapons and is unlikely to do anything that could lead to the loss of this vital support," the report says.
"We need to recognize that they know best how to defend themselves, and allowing them to do so will build mutual trust. Ukraine has shown with drone strikes deep into Russia that its priority is to slow the Russian advance as much as possible. We must trust Ukraine to use American weapons to achieve this goal and prevent more horrific Russian missile strikes on civilian targets," the agency's report says.
At the same time, the Helsinki Commission argues in its report that U.S. decision makers have exaggerated the Kremlin's threats of retaliation. "Make no mistake - Russia will continue to brandish nuclear weapons to deter other countries from supporting Ukraine and to directly threaten it. Although none of these threats have been proven true after crossing many of the "red lines" Moscow has set over the years, these threats do influence the foreign policy decisions of other states, including U.S. allies," the report noted.
The document stresses that "these fears cannot be simply ignored but must be dispelled with common sense." "It is useful to remember that Russia uses the nuclear threat because it is the only remaining vestige of its Soviet "superpower" status, if the USSR was a superpower at all," the report says.
The publication noted that the report of this influential agency appeared at a key moment, when Ukraine has asked for additional assistance for a plan that it hopes can end the war in the coming months, and against the backdrop of the prospect of Donald Trump winning the US presidential election.
"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called long-range strikes a key element of his "Victory Plan" to end the war," the publication added.
